Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger says San Francisco still has its appeal as the company’s headquarters city even though thousands of Schwab jobs have moved to lower-cost areas and hundreds more are being loaded into the moving van.
For workers, it’s become easier and less risky to go solo. Affordable health insurance plans, which kept many workers shackled to traditional jobs, are more accessible because of the Affordable Care Act. . . In 2013, 23 million people were self-employed, according the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s up 1.2 percent from the year before and up about 24 percent from 2003. That number doesn’t count self-employed people who may also hire employees.
Growth was characterized as “moderate” in the Chicago, Richmond, Minneapolis and San Francisco districts; “modest” in New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis regions; mixed in the Boston district; “slight” in Cleveland and Kansas City; holding steady in Atlanta; and slowing “slightly” in Dallas. The latter could be associated with falling business spending in the energy sector.
The gap shrank by 19.2 percent to $40.9 billion from the prior month’s $50.6 billion that was the widest in more than six years, Commerce Department figures showed Wednesday in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 72 economists called for a deficit of $44 billion. Purchases of foreign-made goods declined after the end of a labor dispute at West Coast ports caused them to jump in March.
Global deflationary pressures emanating from China are symptomatic of wider demand issues gripping economies from South America and Europe to much of Asia. China is far from the sole cause of price weakness; others include new crude-oil supplies in North America and sluggish growth in Europe. But China’s sheer size, reach and central role in global manufacturing make it a potent force.
The decision late last week by the State Water Resources Control Board upends a delicate compromise made weeks ago by environmental regulators, farmers and others as California struggles to cope with the fourth year of drought. For the next 10 days, water releases from Shasta will be lower than expected.
The ports handled 39% of U.S. container imports in 2002; that fell to 32% by 2013, according to U.S. census data. They have lost business to competitors at a time when, overall, global trade is booming and imports are rising at all ports, including L.A. and Long Beach. . . The loss in market share represented an estimated 12,300 direct and indirect California jobs in 2013, and more than $112 million in state and local tax revenue, according to Martin’s research.
Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, authored AB 706 to establish a California STEM AmeriCorps or CalSTEM program, that would expand on President Barack Obama’s STEM AmeriCorps initiative by allowing the California Volunteers office to administer it and solicit private funds to operate it. The bill, which was approved by the Assembly on Monday, would also allow nonprofits to apply to host CalSTEM AmeriCorps members and defines their qualifications.
Working at home, much of it telecommuting, has replaced transit as the principal commuting alternative to the automobile in the United States outside New York. In the balance of the nation, there are more than 1.25 commuters who work at home for each commuter using transit to travel to work, according to data in the American Community Survey for 2013 (one year). When the other six largest transit metropolitan areas are included (Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and San Francisco), twice as many people commute by working at home than by transit.
A new forecast shows the California economy will maintain strong growth despite the drought and a “soft” U.S. economy.
We found, for all three major minority groups, that the best places were neither the most liberal in their attitudes nor had the most generous welfare programs. Instead they were located primarily in regions that have experienced broad-based economic growth, have low housing costs, and limited regulation. In other words, no matter how much people like Bill de Blasio talk about the commitment to racial and class justice, the realities on the ground turn out to be quite different than he might imagine.
The nature of employment seems to be undergoing radical change. Among the trends weakening the traditional model of steady, full-time employment are on-demand work platforms like Lyft and Instacart; software to help companies schedule employees’ shifts almost in real time; and a desire among many workers for greater flexibility.
The law also would prohibit any kind of discipline for employees — male or female — who discuss or ask about pay at work. And it would allow employees to challenge wages disparities with similar employees at different workplaces under the same employer.
The percentage of voters who believe the state is on the right track is down 10 percentage points from February, even as its fiscal outlook continues to improve with revenue running billions of dollars ahead of estimates.
Assembly Bill 359, which passed 42-26, bars stores from firing workers for non-performance reasons within 90 days of a merger or buyout. After that grace period expires stores would need to conduct performance reviews to help decide whether to keep the employees.